Will we see new Flip?

But Flip struggled with his adjustments before. His only adjustment before was to put his starters in when in doubt. That's what I am concerned with - him reverting to the old habits. I am just hoping he trusts the bench guys more this time around and doesn't hesitate to put them in when the situation calls for it.

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For me the problem has been lack of developed talent to come off of the bench prior to this year so that is why Flip did not play them.

Maybe these guys who a number of us thought should have gotten more minutes the last two years weren't developed enough or good enough to get the extra minutes that we thought that they should get.

Also, developing young players when you have 4 guys who have been all stars in your starting lineup plus Tay is not exactly the easiest thing to do so developing a player like JMax took about 1.5 years.

Finally, Hot Rod and AA are better as rookies than any other rookies we have had in a very long time.

So this year is sort of a convergence of having the best rookies that we have had in a number of years, plus the development of 3rd year plays; i.e. JMax and AJ, along with the addition of Hayes who can score as quickly as anyone on our team when his shooting game is on. Add Murray to that who got some decent minutes last year and there you have it.

Nice adjustment by Flip on the fly, or maybe Uncle Sheed called the plays. LOL

November 7, 2007

BY KRISTA JAHNKE

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

Pistons small forward Jarvis Hayes paused to think about the question: How many times in his Washington Wizards tenure did a coach or teammate call a play for him late in a close game?

"Uh ... " he said, looking up in thought. "Never? I can't remember."

Those Wizards teams featured three key scoring options in Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. But the Pistons have their own contingent of All-Star-caliber scorers. That's one difference that pleases Hayes about his new role as a Piston. Even though he struggled early in Sunday's win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Pistons went to Hayes on two straight possessions in the fourth quarter.

It happened when the Hawks switched 6-foot point guard Tyronn Lue onto Hayes, so they could put bigger defenders on point guard Chauncey Billups. The Pistons saw that mismatch and went straight to it, resulting in two buckets.

"We just recognize the mismatch," Hayes said. "There were plenty of times in D.C. where I had the mismatch, and we just didn't exploit. Just didn't.

It also makes him feel a more important part of the team, which as you say helps to build not only his confidence, but almost just as important the confidence that the other 4 guys on the floor and Flip will have in him.

Hayes can fill it up and as we are learning can do other things very well to and definitely fits the Pistons mold a lot better than Delfino.

Champion also picked up on that mismatch even before Hayes took his first shot with the mismatch.

I used to be one of the Flip's supporters. However, now more than ever I'm joining the camp of everyone who thinks that he should not be allowed to waste the talent on this team. I don't know how much more benefit of the doubt I could allow him. He needs to show something now, or Joe needs to make some changes. Current coaching is just not going to cut it. And it looks like Flip is not going to change.
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I used to be one of the Flip's supporters. However, now more than ever I'm joining the camp of everyone who thinks that he should not be allowed to waste the talent on this team. I don't know how much more benefit of the doubt I could allow him. He needs to show something now, or Joe needs to make some changes. Current coaching is just not going to cut it. And it looks like Flip is not going to change.
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You could wear your "Fire Flip" Pistons t shirt to tomorrow nights game and make sure you walk by the bench so he sees it.

I used to be one of the Flip's supporters. However, now more than ever I'm joining the camp of everyone who thinks that he should not be allowed to waste the talent on this team. I don't know how much more benefit of the doubt I could allow him. He needs to show something now, or Joe needs to make some changes. Current coaching is just not going to cut it. And it looks like Flip is not going to change.​

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I've always supported Flip also. I am waiting til February to pass judgement. By then, I'll have a feeling if he really integrated the bench into the game. My guess is that Joe will give him til February also.........